China's Vice President Xi Jinping will visit Vietnam on December 20-22, Vietnamnet news web site quoted the foreign ministry as saying Monday.

Xi is making the visit two months after Vietnam and China signed an agreement on ground rules to solve sea matters. The agreement was inked during the visit to China by Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In September, Dai Binggou, China's state councilor, also led a delegation to visit Vietnam and attended the fifth gathering of the steering committee on the countries' bilateral cooperation.

It is estimated that within the first eight months of this year, the trade value between Vietnam and China has increased by 35 percent year on year, achieving US$25 billion, according to the newswire. The total is expected to reach $40 billion as of this year end, Vietnamnet added.